If You Hunt a Monster
by The Rev. T-Dog
Summary: The Galactic Federation have hired The bounty hunter Samus Aran and her partner Spartan-458 to track down a cruiser that has the ability to create time warps. years in the past a guy named "Butch", a result of military testing, will have his life changed.
1. Part 1: Rescue

_**If You Hunt the monster…**__. Part 1_

Rescue

Note: I would highly suggest reading the first two installments of the Soul Mates series before reading this, although this is not a continuation of that series of some of the elements within this story will make more sense if you do.

'Beautiful' she thought gazing into the depths of space outside the cockpit window. She was the infamous bounty huntress Samus Aran. Medium height, mid twenties, with glowing blonde hair tied back in a pony tail She realized that someone was talking to her. "Hand me the damn wrench!" Yelled the pair of legs. The legs were attached to a body obscured by a large piece of equipment. "Coming Nicky." Samus called back. Nicole, know to most as Spartan 458 was the pair of legs sticking out from beneath the targeting computer, few knew her as Nicole and only one person knew her as Nicky, and that was Samus. She was in her late twenties, a few years older than Samus. With soft dark brown eyes and full lips and shoulder length brown hair, she was quite stunning. She was the only other person that Samus had ever gone on missions with; they had learned to trust each other with their lives over the time they had worked together. 'Damn' Samus thought as she retrieved the wrench from the box 'I can't daydream like that.' She walked to the computer "Here you go Nicky." Nicole rolled out from beneath the behemoth computer and jokingly pouted "took you long enough"

"it's taking you long enough to fix that damn computer." Samus shot back. Not a few seconds after which the computer sprang to life with a flare. A smug looking Nicole strutted out and remarked,

"You were saying?"

---

'I hate them all.' He thought 'All the teachers and that god damn school.' He was walking through the biting cold of winter in a hoodie and a trademark brown leather jacket, he was in a pissed off mood. He was known as Butch by his friends, Johnson by his parents and only his parents. He was a little less then 6ft. with short, strait brown hair, blueish-green eyes and usually had pleasant demeanor; this was NOT one of those times. Over the past three months he had been driven to the edge of inanity by teacher and students who thought of him as a freak and loser because every 18 months he left to be tested which was excused as therapy. The straw that broke the camel's back had come earlier that day when a teacher refused to raise his grade ever thought the loss of the grade was her fault. There was something that not even his close friends knew about. 3 years earlier there had been an explosion that he'd been caught in that had severed his left arm. He had been immediately swooped down upon by the U.S. military and had been tested on for well over 4 months. They gave him a state of the art prosthetic arm that could perform every range of motion in exchange for allowing them to try experimental bone hardening and muscle density increase experiments.

They were a huge success.

These experiments were the later basis for the UNSC's SPARTAN program. Over the past three months he had been driven to the edge of inanity by teacher and students who thought of him as a freak and loser because every 18 months he left to be tested by the army for side effects of the experiment which was excused as therapy. He left as angry as hell itself, and determined to do one thing,

Kill that teacher.

---

"Targets sighted" barked Nicole

"Where?" asked Samus

This mission that Nicole and Samus were on was tracking a small fleet of space pirate vessel carrying millions of tons of captured Galactic Federation munitions. Among those was an experimental cruiser that could potentially open a worm hole that could take it to a different time. This type of instantaneous travel could win or lose the war for eather side They were take back this valuable asset and subdue the munitions carriers.

Simple right?

"Bearing sector 172.616 quadrant 2305" said Nicole "and they're send'n a welcoming party." "How many?" asked Samus

"I count 30 fighter craft closing rapidly."

"Activate the cannons" yelled Samus

One of the new upgrades that Sammus's ship received recently were 4 solid beam phazon cannons. These could cut through the hull of a cruiser in seconds. These cannons auto targeted the fighters and cut lose.

There were fire balls everywhere.

Then they entered the fleet guns blazing.

"Talk to me Nicky, where's that cruiser?"

"I'm lookin, I'm lookin." she said while rapidly scanning the sensor screens "Got her!"

"plug it the coordinates"

"got it, 1 minute til dock"

---

This was it he was at the door to the school. In one hand a rock, in the other, his father's .45 service pistol. He planned this meticulously, yet he was torn. Could he take this man's life. He won't, he will, he won't, he won't, he will, he won't he makes his choice. The sound of shattered glass splits the night air. Ten minutes later butch is almost back to hishouse his hands covered in blood.

---

This had not been part of the plan.  
The pirates activated the worm hole opener and had disappeared but Samus had her own problems. They were getting sucked in.

Samus could visibly see the ship's shape twisting and distorting. This anomaly was what had trapped Nicole in the 21st century the last time. The air itself seemed to glow an eerie blue light and objects started vanishing and appearing at random. Then it stopped. But outside the constellations were different. And there was a cruiser headed for a blue marble in space tat Nicole immediately recognized.

The two ships chased one another as each jockeyed for firing position on the other. They were rapidly descending toward a large populous center, and then the cruiser fired, and missed.

---

Butch was walking home. He couldn't do it, he couldn't that man's life, no matter how worthless it was. He had just thrown the rock through his window and nothing more. The rock had cut open his right hand as he through it. 'He was probably scared shitless from it too, that pussy.' Butch thought to himself. It was then than he looked up just in time to see a huge ship fly over head and drop an energy bomb on his house. And vaporize everyone inside.

---

"She's setting down!" Nicole yelled

"Suit up!" shouted Samus back, "we're gonna have to her board her!"

They both prepared

Nicole suited up in new and improved MJOLNIR Mark VI Spartan battle armor. With brand new shields, scanners, and harder armor plating, this armor could go toe to toe with almost anything. However despite all the weapons that she could choose from, the Spartan still preferred her time tested BR55 battle rife and M6D magnum pistol. Samus activated her sleek heavy duty Chozo powersuit. Properly prepared, they exited the ship to face the 200 space pirates pouring out of the cruiser.

---

He couldn't believe it, he thought standing in front of the burned out shell that had once been his house. His entire family, wiped out in an instant. 'They will pay' that was all he could think 'THEY WILL PAY!' Going through the wreckage gathering all the ammo, food, and supplies that he could lay his hands on. This was because he knew he wasn't coming back. He then sprinted toward the sound of explosions and flashes where the ship had landed.

---

This was not good.

There were hundreds of these bugs. And they just kept coming!

"On your right" yelled Samus

Nicole dispatched the insect creature with a burst from her rifle and spun to face the swarm in front of her and started firing again. 'We're not gonna make it' Samus thought. Just then a new sound appeared. The sharp crack of small arms fire from the north. There was commotion on the pirates flank, then Samus saw why. There was a kid, probably 15 or 16 years old with a pistol in his hand shooting the shit out of any thing that came near him, and doing a damn good job, too. Then the pistol went silent, he'd run out of ammo and the pirates were closing in around him. Just as Samus was about to go to his aid she saw a space pirate go flying 20ft. and saw the kid killing pirates with his BARE HANDS. Not even she could do that with her power suit on. Seeing this apparent demoralized the pirates and they fled back to the cruiser.

---

"COWARDS!!" Butch yelled, "COME BACK AND FIGHT!!!"

The creatures were retreating back to their ship. He began running after them, but didn't get far before he was grabbed from behind. Without ever thinking he spun around knocked his assailant to the ground and started smashing the butt of the pistol against their head. Realizing that they were wearing a helmet he tore it off and found himself looking into the eye of a beautiful woman they he heard someone behind him yell, "Hey!"

---

Samus couldn't believe it, they were alive. By all rights they should have been dead. That kid had saved them, as much as she hated to admit it. Nicole had gone to check on him. When Samus looked up she saw Nicole put her hand on his shoulder. Then to her shock Samus saw the kid knock Nicole to the ground and start beating her with the pistol. Samus started sprinting over, she saw him rip off Nicole's helmet, about to swing again.

She yelled "Hey!"

He turned just in time to put his arm up before her cannon arm hit him square in the chest. He went flying back 30ft and hit the side of Samus's ship.

"What the hell was that?!?" Nicole yelled at her.

"I just helped you." Samus said, taken aback by the ferocity in her voice.

"You really think that I couldn't have handled him?" Nicole said, "He had an adrenaline rush, so I let him take it out to try and calm him down. Then you come and hit him with your cannon arm and probable just killed him!"

Samus realized Nicole was right. They both ran over to the crumpled figure by the ship. Nicole got there first and listened to his chest. 'He's still breathing' she thought amazed "he's still alive!" she called to Samus.

"Get him on the ship" Samus called back, "we take in 5 minutes."

When Nicole tried to pick him up, he suddenly regained conciseness and held up a hand.

"I can walk… into the damn ship" he said

"But you…" Nicole started

"I …can… walk" he said obviously in pain but with a tone hard as granite.

Nicole knew it was useless to argue with someone in this state and helped him to his feet.

---

Gritting his teeth against the pain he climbs the ramp into the space ship. There he sees the guy who punched him. The guy looks up and says, "I'm…sorry about that, really I am" he said in a voice that sounded vaguely feminine "so…truce?" as an answer Butch punched him in the chest as hard as he could throwing the armor clad figure against a bulkhead.

"Even," Butch spat before nearly collapsing onto the floor. What surprised him was that the brown haired woman caught him and stood him up. The orange dude was up and had murder in his eyes.

"Why you dirty little mother…"

"Samus don't…" said the girl behind him.

"Butt out Nicole." Said Samus  
"Samus? But that's a…" Butch trailed off

"A what?" Samus growled

"That explains so much" said Butch

"Explains what?!?" yelled Samus

"You're girl. Aren't you?" said Butch

"Yes, so what? Huh? What does that explain??" she exclaimed

"It explains how you fight so well." Said Butch

"Huh?" said Samus surprised by this response. Most assumed she was a man by how she fought.

"If you can fight that well against something then you must hate it with a passion, and only women can maintain hold a grudge that long." That earned him a slap across the face.

The girl named Nicole observed, "He'll fit in nicely here."

"Definitely" agreed Samus

"Did I miss something?" asked Butch

"Neither of us gives a damn about small talk or sugar coating the truth. You appear to be blunt to a fault, so you'll fit in well with us" said Samus

"oooohhhhh, gotcha" said Butch

"Now that settled, buckle in 'cause we've got pirates to catch!"

End of Part 1

---

this is my very first literature piece on fanfiction so I would like constructive criticism please thank you, and I want to know whether I should continue the series. thanks

Note: I'm not extremely knowledgeable about halo or metroid so if i mess something up please don't kick the shit out of me

Disclaimer: I don't own ether halo, metoid, or the characters of Samus or Nicole. I do however own the character of Butch and all subsidiary rights to him.


	2. Part 2:Rout

If you hunt the monster… Pt. 2  
ROUT

'Life's a bitch' that's all he could think as he sat there trying to ignore the pain in his chest 'and so is Samus'

His name is Johnson "Butch" Relsirc, he was a little older than 16, about 5'11" with blueish-green eyes and dark brown hair and a constantly joking and warm personality despite the fact that his joke's usually left someone pissed off, and more often than not at him. And right now he was 4,000,000 miles and 800 years away from home in the year 3118, with 4 broken ribs in a sardine can of a ship next to a psychotic bitch that had a grudge against him.

Obviously, he'd been better.

Those days ended yesterday. Well, yesterday 800 years ago in 2312 when an alien cruiser dropped an energy bomb on his house and killed his family. He'd been consumed by rage and followed the ship to its landing site and attacking its occupants with his father's old .45 service pistol. He then attacked one of the occupants of the other ship at the landing zone before being taken out by Samus's arm cannon. Samus Aran was the infamous intergalactic bounty hunter seated in front of him. In her imposing Battle Armor she could easily be mistaken for a man. But at the moment she was in a simple blue, skintight cat suit. Her partner Petty officer Spartan-458 Nicole was removing her armor in the aft lavatory.

After having thought it over he decided to just get it over with. He reached into the bag and pulled out a cylindrical object

---

Samus noticed Butch pulling something out of his bag. He then tossed it to her.

"What the hell is this?" she asked suspiciously. Noting the strange green M on the front

"It's an energy drink called MONSTER." He said digging through his bag again, "Try it."

While still suspicious she took a sip. 'DAMN! This tastes good!' she thought, then she suddenly felt a strange tingling sensation and started gulping it down. Then she saw him take out a similar object to hers but it was a little bigger. He took a sip and, to Samus's horror put a hand to his chest and started pushing in and moving something around, he was actually taking one of his broken ribs and was physically resetting it. He repeated this on his other broken ribs. Then, after stealing himself with another sip of the concoction, he yanked forward the center of his chest resetting the final bone that Samus had broken with an involuntary gasp as a partially collapsed lung refilled.

For a few moments Samus was too shocked and disgusted to speak. She gingerly set the can down, afraid it might bite her. Noticing this Butch, breaking the silence, said

"Don't worry, yours is just a normal energy drink."

"Then what the hell is that?!?" she exclaimed

"This is some MONSTER that I mixed with heavy non-narcotic pain killers." He said as if he were describing a piece at an auction

"And WHY do you have that?" she said still utterly confused.

"I was going to sell it to the athletes at my school for a hefty price" he said nonchalantly.

"So, wait, back up. You're saying when you drink that you don't feel any pain?" she said an evil grin creeping up her face

"Yeah. The combon…" he never finished seeing as at that moment Samus punched him in the face as hard as she could knocking him out of his seat. Samus got up and stood over him.

"You were saying hotshot?" she said smugly then she noticed she hadn't even bruised his face,  
"How is your nose not even bleeding?" she asked

"You're not that good lookin' toots, even from this angle." He said slyly

At this Samus promptly stomped on his face and kicked him somewhere very uncomfortable.

"Was that REALLY necessary?!?!?!" he exclaimed in an unusually high voice. She squatted down to his level

"Yes, it was, you little chauvinist mother fucker." She whispered in a cold acidic tone, and then she stood back up. Just then Nicole walked out of the lavatory. She was in her late twenties with flowing chocolate brown hair and matching eyes. She wore only a skin tight black flight suit that highlighted every curve on her supple body.

"I think I feel that nose bleed coming on." he whispered to Samus, who promptly kicked him in the stomach missing her intended target. But this time Nicole saw her do it.

"Samus." Nicole said exasperatedly, helping Butch to his feet. Then Samus described the conversation she and Butch had just had. After that Nicole then promptly hit him in the face, knocking him to the floor.

"What is this some kind of hazing the new guy shit?" he said as he picked himself off the floor.

"No," replied Samus "you're just acting like an ass"

"Sorry to interrupt this soap opera Lady but we're about to make the jump" said a voice from nowhere. "ETA 5 hours"

"Who was that?" asked Butch confusedly

"That's Adam," replied Samus, "my ship's computer"

"Pleasure Adam." said Butch

"That's Commander Malkovich to you, squirt." Said the commander

"Sorry commander, it won't happen again Sir!" said Butch, who surprised the girls by coming to attention and saluting.

"At ease" The commander said, if he'd had a face he would have smirked, "I like this kid already."

"Thank You Sir!" said Butch

Samus groaned, this kid was getting more annoying by the minute. And it was 5 HOURS to target.

---

About 5 hours later the ship was quite quiet. Samus was checking an engine leak, Nicole was asleep, and Butch was listening to music.

Then Adam broke the silence "We're approaching our destination, ETA 10 minutes."

Their target had landed on a planet, designated LV-426. Samus had been here before on business. The planet itself was essentially a giant junk yard filled with hundreds of years of refuse and waste that formed mountains a mile high. It was originally a site for dumping outdated military hardware. That's what they told Butch anyway.

The very loud sound of Adam's voice startled Nicole causing her to fall out of her chair and

Butch could clearly hear a crash followed by a sea of swears and curses from the rear of the ship and couldn't help but smile as Samus walked up grumbling and rubbing a bruised forehead

"What's going on?" she said, "and this had better be good!"

"ETA to target 9 minutes" Butch said before turning his music back on and nodding his head to the beats of Thunderstruck by AC/DC and strumming an air guitar.

"Well," she said exasperatedly, "better suit up. Come on Nicky"

"Not in front of the kid Samus" she said slightly angry.

"Hey, when you girls are done with your catfight can ya quiet down. I can't hear my msic

"Shut up Butch" she said

"Anything you say … Nicky." He replied smugly, Obviously having heard them.

Nicole stormed out of the room 'Damn Him' she thought.

'Well played kid,' thought Samus, 'well played' and went to retrieve her armor.

---

4 minutes later they were on the planet's surface. They had landed some 30 clicks from the damaged cruiser and were going over the plan. It'd been decided that Samus and Nicole would go to take the cruiser and Butch, to his dismay, would be guarding the ship.

Right before the huntresses left he asked

"You got a weapons locker on this tub?"

"Why do you ask?" replied Samus

"I only have one clip left for my .45"

"What the hell's a .45?

Butch gestured to the pistol in his right hand.

"oooohhhh," she said pondering the problem "just use one of plasma pistols in the cockpit."

"O.K….I guess" he said not sure whether this was a blessing or a curse.

"Good, see you in 2 days" she said almost cheerily and then they were on their way.

'Wow,' he thought 'am I really that hard to be around?'

"Not in my opinion" said Adam

"Oh, shit did say that out loud?" Butch asked startled

"Yes, you did" said Adam flatly

"Sorry Sir" said Butch his mind else where

"OK that 'Sir' thing is starting to get on my nerves just call me Adam"

Butch threw a mock salute "You will regret that Sir!" he said with a devilish grin.

---

Samus and Nicole walked in-between the mountains of garbage, lost in thought. It was good to get away from the men and just think.

Samus broke the silence, "Whacha think of the new kid?"

"I don't know," she said, "What'd you think?"

"He's either REALLY nervous or REALLY pissed" Samus said

"Huh?"

"Guys feel the need to appear macho and cool especially in front of girls" she said, "if he's really pissed then he's trying to keep it check, if he's nervous he's trying to cover it up with those bad jokes of his"

"oh, gotcha" Nicole said, now thoroughly counfused, "how far to target?"

"From the readings I'd say about 10 miles" Samus replied, "we should set up camp."

"Why can't we call the ship?" asked Nicole

"It wouldn't fit in this canyon, and this particular canyon is a straight shot to the cruiser." said Samus

"oooohhhhh"

---

'The hell with it' Butch thought, 'I'm gonna go explore.' "YO!! Adam." He yelled

"Yes?"

" I'm gonna go explore this place, see if I can find anything useful."

"Now you know as well as I do that our orders are to guard the ship." He said flatly

"I just gonna go find something to better guard it then this." He said, gesturing to the tiny plasma pistol in his hand

"In that case, Good Luck and get out, I have been needing peace and quiet for ages!" said Adam

"I'll keep in touch" Butch said gesturing to the comlink in his hand.

---

'Damn' he thought 'this place is enormous' He walked in between the junk piles aimlessly wandering occasionally stopping to examine something but for the most part walking. He thought to himself, 'I wonder if there's a working ship in here somewhere? ...Nah! They'd scavenged it for parts already. Wait, what they? There's no one here. This could be benifitial after all.' Then he turned a corner. His jaw dropped and his eyes bulged at what he saw

"Holy shit." He said, "I gotta get back to the ship."

---

It had not been a good day

Samus and Nicole had found the space pirates but were spotted before then could set up a defensible position.

Not good.

They were forced to go on the offensive with 100-1 odds against them. Nicole letting loose with her BR55, Samus with her Plasma Beam. Charging a shot, Samus ran forward and fired, then flipped backwards and landed next to Nicole who was already on to her 3rd clip.

"There's so fuckin many ya can't miss" said Nicole as she took down another Pirate with a quick burst.

"I know." replied Samus taking down another with a plasma beam blast

That's when things really went south.

Nicole's rifle jammed, she had to switch to her pistol, which wasn't very effective against the pirates.

Then they suddenly were surrounded and closed in with 20 pirate plasma weapons pointed at their heads.

"OK" Nicole said, "we're fucked"

Then one of the pirates keeled over, followed by nine more in quick succession. Then they could hear the shots being fired by the unseen sniper as more pirates fell. The women and pirates were searching franticly searching for the sniper.

Samus spotted him first. He was situated on a junk heap opposite them firing away with a .50 sniper rifle. He was wearing silver polished armor with a strange skull insignia on the chest plate. All in all in look almost like armor from the medieval ages of Earth except for the tinted visor and large pack attached to the back. Then he stopped firing, and Samus knew why, he was out of ammo. He must have fired 50 shots into the pirates. Then, to her amazement, he reached behind his back and pulled out a very nasty looking 6-barrel chain gun, seemingly, out of thin air. He then started firing in to the pirates again.

---

Samus and Nicole used this opportunity to make a dash away.

"A local?"asked Nicole, indicating the shooter, who was now running with them along the adjacent junk pile.

"There's no such thing on this planet." Samus responded

They had made some distance between the pirates and themselves when they saw the shooter stop and place something on the edge of the pile and throw something similar on the bank opposite. He then ran some distance and pressed a button. The objects exploded causing a junk slide that blocked the canyon. The shooter then ducked behind the junk pile.

'Where'd he go?' They both thought. Then they heard the sound of an engine starting up and both thought 'Fuck!' but then they realized the noise was get closer not farther away. Then a jeep like vehicle came roaring of the heap and came to a skidding halt in front of them.

"Get in." said the driver, his voice garbled slightly from the speakers on the helmet.

The girls look at each other. Then Samus and Nicole said respectively, one second apart,

"Shotgun!"  
"Shotgun! Fuck!"

"Stop being childish and get in the damn jeep!" said the driver

"Fine." said Nicole walking to the back of the jeep.

"Here," said the driver, handing her the chain gun, "hook that up to the mount in front of the seat. You're gonna be our rear gunner."

"Sweet!" said Nicole looking at the huge gun in her hands

"You," he said indicating Samus, "get in and let's go they'll get over that blockage soon enough"

---

They'd been driving for an hour when the driver broke the silence,

"20 minutes to the ship." He said

Several minutes passed before Samus suddenly yelled

"AERO-TROOPERS!"

There was a formation of about 30 of them above the jeep preparing to fire.

"SPARTAN fire!" yelled the driver

Nicole obliged, firing a sustained burst into the formation, bringing down 8 of them. Samus then began to fire missiles into them. After 10 minutes, only 9 remained, but the jeep was on its last legs. They then crested a hill and could see the ship, which the girls were surprised to see, was Samus's gunship.

Then, when they were within spitting distance of the ship, disaster. One of the aero-troopers fired an explosive that hit the side of the jeep, flipping it. Samus and the driver managed to jump clear. Nicole wasn't so lucky. When the jeep flipped her legs were caught underneath. Even her hardened bones couldn't withstand the impact and both of her shins shattered.

"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!!" she yelled as the extreme pain set in  
The Driver and Samus lifted it off of her.

"Can you walk?" asked Samus worriedly

"I… don't… know." Said Nicole between gasps

"I'll take that as a just plain no," said Samus, who then scooped up Nicole. "Can you cover us?" she asked the driver.

The driver pulled out an assault rifle from a slot on his back and replied

"Yes. Now go!"

Samus ran toward the ship with Nicole in her arms. Behind her she could hear gunfire and explosions as the Driver took down the aero-troopers. When she got to the ship she turned around and saw the driver running towards them, with the bodies of aero-troopers littering the ground behind him. He got onto the ship and said,

"Let's get off this rock."

Samus ran to the cockpit and gunned the engines and took off from the surface of the planet. It was after that that she realized something was amiss

"Nicky where's the kid?" she asked

"Who Butch?" Nicole asked sleepily

"Yeah."

"I don't know"

"You don't think we…" her voice trailed off

The Driver suddenly spoke,

"Don't worry Butch is fine." He said

"And just how would you know?" asked Samus, trying to keep the panic from her voice at the  
thought of leaving the kid behind for the pirates.

"I didn't know I was that important." Said the Driver

"What?" said Samus thinking she'd misheard him

Then the Driver remove his helmet revealing none other than Butch.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!?" was all Samus could think to say.

"Allow me to explain, you two were gone for 2 days. So in that time I decided to go exploring." He said then Samus cut in

"And where did this come from then?!?" gesturing to the silver armor and insignia

"The armor or the skull?" He asked

"Both"

"Well if you would just let me finish I would tell you." She fell silent "Thank you. Anyway, I went searching when I came across an old junk pile filed with outdated military tech. So I figured 'outdated is better than nothing' so I started searching through it and found all this equipment in huge quantities. That all must have been surplus before it I got dumped. That is, except for the armor. This was the only full suit I found, I found what might have been pieces of others in there but otherwise nothing."

"And the skull was already on there?" asked Samus

"Oh, that. No, I added that myself."

"How?"

"I don't know, the idea just sort of came to me as I was assembling the armor."

"No I mean how'd you get it on there."

"Oh, I imprinted it on the metal"

"I know that! But how'd… forget it." She said exasperatedly "we need to go to my place."

"¿Porque, señorita?" he asked

"what?"

"I asked you 'why?' in spanish."

"Oh, well there's some things I need to pick up, I need to make a report to the federation, and Nicole," she said indicating the unconscious SPARTAN, "need medical attention that I can't give her here do to her genetic modifications."

"Gottcha. So this means I'm crashin' at your place huh?" he said

"Yeah, I guess. But only till I can find a place to dump you." She added quickly

"Just face it, you can't bear to be separated from me" he said slyly

This earned him another kick in an uncomfortable place.

---

After 7 hours they finally reached Kortalth, the capitol world of the Galactic Federation. Samus dropped off the two at her hovel of a home in the city. Once they got in Butch promptly found the couch laid his gear next to it and fell onto it.

"There're more comfortable places here then that thing." Samus remarked

"Unless there's a hidden guest room in this hut, this is where I'm stayin'. Unless you have better accommodations, that is." He said hanging up his leather jacket.

"I suppose you're right." She said

"Where's the princess?" he asked

"In my room resting." Samus said and then walked out the door

Butch then began to ransack the kitchen for any food. Taking what little he could find back to the couch he began to work on cleaning his armor. Then he heard a ships engine outside. 'hmm, that was quick' he thought. Then he looked outside.

---

Nicole sat up. She'd been woken by the noise of a ship's engine. Then suddenly, Butch barged into the room.

"Butch what the hell…"

"GET DOWN!!" yelled Butch knocking her flat jut as one of the walls was blown away in a bright flash and deafening BOOM.

End of Part 2


	3. Part 3: Repercusions

REPERCUSIONS

Another day, another annoying debriefing session with the federation reps. 'Honestly' she thought, 'I don't think they can tell their end from a hole in the ground'. She'd been there for 3 hours answering some of the stupidest questions to date.

---

"Hello Samus." Said the plainly dressed man

"Robert," Samus replied

He sighed.

"So, let's get started then" he said in a tone soaked in boredom

"OK." Said Samus in an equally monotonous voice, "We started the search at the location of the ambush…"

"And where was this?" he interrupted in the same bored tone

"You know damn well where. Right outside the Corinthian system!" she said

"I just ensuring that we're on the same page and…" It continued this manner for well over three hours

But, she was finally done and headed home. When she was a little whiles off she started to see the smoke.

---

She surveyed the scene.

There was a large scorch mark on the landing pad, indicating a hasty take off by what appeared to be a shuttle craft. There was a red trail leading from the house to the scorch mark. It didn't take a forensic expert to tell what that meant. Then there was the house itself. The fire had burned itself out, leaving a smoking wreck in its wake. She took a plasma pistol and went into the house. She was met by the smell of burnt flesh and smoke. Advancing cautiously through the wreckage she nearly tripped over the carcass of a dead pirate.

Her fears were confirmed. They'd attacked her house and taken Nicole and Butch.

All she could think was, 'FUCK!!! You fucking idiotic moron. You knew this would happen if established connections with someone. Now Nicole is gone and you dragged the kid into it …' her thoughts trailed off when she saw the kid's empty armor laying against the wall. There were scorch marks all around and on it and the shoulder, and armoring for the left arm was about ten feet away. It looked like the pirates had used it for target practice before leaving. She went through the wreckage following the red trail. It stopped in the bed room. She went inside stepping over at least a dozen pirate bodies to get to the door. She notices that most of them had similar wounds, bullet holes. That meant that Butch and Nicky had to have made their stand here. She went inside and found that there were more bodies, all of them pirates, hundreds of shell casings, and Butch's jammed assault rifle. It was clear what happened, 'so the pirates storm in, the kid tries to hold them, his rifle jams, they take both of them on the shuttle and fly off. Fuck, man I screwed up, **DAMN ROBERT! ** He held me there, DAMN HIM!' she searched for anything she could use and started out the door when the "empty" armor suddenly moaned. Samus did a double take, 'What the fuck…?' She walked over and realized the armor's occupant was still inside.

---

She screamed

All she could feel was pain.

She tasted copper.

She screamed again

She blacked out, still screaming

---

"Butch?"

A groan.

"What happened?"

Another groan.

"Butch talk to me."

"What… the fuck… happened?" he said groggily, the words obviously taking extreme effort

"I was hoping you could tell me Butch." She said

Suddenly it all came flooding back to him.

"The Dragon." He said quietly

"What?" Samus said, getting that familiar feeling of dread in her stomach

"A giant… black… dragon, that's the… the first thing th… that I remember." He said, dangerously short of breath, he spoke between gasps, "He … he… he shot at me wi…with something… from… his eyes." He was panting now, hyperventilating. Samus knew he was going into shock; she'd have to work fast.

"He…took her… couldn't … stop him." Butch was fading fast.

"Don't talk. I'll be right back." Samus said, she then ran to the kitchen. Searching through the wreckage she found it, a medical kit. She ran back to Butch and tried to remove the helmet.

She couldn't

Butch then, like a metal Frankenstein, reached his right hand up; unsealed the helmet, reached in, and popped out a deep dent in the side of his helmet. As he withdrew his gauntleted glove she saw that it was slick with blood and … something else. He then lifted the helmet up and off his head. She quickly attached the respirator without even looking and went to her ship for more supplies. She didn't notice the white orb that fell out of Butch's helmet and on to the floor.

---

She awoke

She bit down the urge to scream.

She took a deep breath and bit down again as her half crushed lungs re-inflated.

Nicole brought up her head and looked around. She was in a roughly 20x20 brig cell. The facilities and bedding dictated that this was meant for human prisoners. 'Wait' she thought 'what other kind of prisoners are there, the Covenant didn't let them take prisoners, suicidal bastards'

Then everything came back to her.

The attack, Butch's defense, her capture, everything.

She shuddered; she hoped that Butch was alright. She remembered one of the pirates delivering a blow right on to Butch's face and he didn't get up. Then she had blacked out.

She could hear noises outside. Voices if she wasn't mistaken.

She tried to move closer. The pain redoubled. And the blackness claimed her again.

---

Samus was staring into a pit.

A Black hole

An empty abyss

The hole that used to house Butch's right eye.

She could barely look at the grotesque spectacle. The entire right side of his face was streaked with blood and sweat, the left, just sweat. He was battered, bruised, and to her understanding missing his **entire left arm**. She'd seen a lot of disturbing thing in her lifetime, hell she'd once found a dead marine and when she unsealed the helmet his grey matter dumped all over her. That had disgusted her, but this sight chilled her to the bone for reasons she couldn't place.

He started to stir.

"Butch?" she said tentatively

"Huh?"

"Are you alright?"

"I think you know the answer to that." He said with a trace of what might be a joking tone.

"I'm sorry." She said

"For what?"

"For not being here."

"Two things," he said taking a deep breath, "one, it's not your fault, how could you have known? Two, since when do you apologize?" he said

Samus looked at him again

"Does it hurt?" she asked

"Unbelievably." He said, "Can you give me my arm?"

"What?!? Why?!?" she asked incredulously

"So I can reattach it." He said simply

She looked at him like he was high, but got the arm and tossed it to Butch.

"Fuck! Don't throw it! It's gonna hard enough to fix without you helping! " said Butch. He looked at the shoulder,

"Damn, they destroyed the motor-neuron connection cable."

Samus did a double take,

"Cable? Wait, is that…"

"Yes, this is a prosthetic."

"God damnit Butch! You nearly gave me a heart attack! You could have told us you had prosthetic arm?!?"

"**SAMUS!!**" he yelled back before calming, "Please, about not telling you. Do you tell people about plastic surgery? Dental operations? Hm? You never asked so I never told you. So please, just calm down what wrong with you?"

She stopped 'Damn' she thought, 'what is wrong with me?'

_This is what happens when you forge relationships in your line, you know that. You've known that since you meet her on that damn station._

'Shut up.' She thought, willing those thought away realizing Butch was talking to her.

"Hello? Earth to Samus, come in Samus."

"I'm sorry, zoned for a minute there. What'd you say?"

"I was saying, Is there any where we can go? We're not safe."

'Wait, that's it!' she thought

"I got it!" she said

"Got what?"

"I know where we can go!"

"Lead the way." Said Butch, attempting to get up before falling flat again, "goddamn it!"

---

Nicole woke up and groggily looked around the room. Then she suddenly blurted out in pain,

"DAMN IT!!" her legs hurt like a bitch.

Then she heard movement outside. Two guards entered the room, picked her up, and carried her out. They carried her into a room that was simple metal box with a table and a variety of medical tools and equipment.

Samus had given her a translator so that they could speak to each other without problems, and it could apparently translate Pirate as well.

"I don't understand why we're doing this. Why heal her bones when we're just going to rip them out of her anyways?" Said one of them

Another responded, he was apparently head doctor,

"Because we need a complete sample to replicate her genetic modifications, and her legs are vital to increasing our warriors speed and agility, that's why we're fixing her legs. Now shut up and get tools"

She was strapped to the table, then she felt something sting her neck and she knew no more.

---

They we're en route to the safe house, ETA 10 min. Samus just sat there, staring. Butch was in the bathroom cleaning himself off. And Adam sat in his layers of silicon thinking away the time.

Butch emerged from the bathroom and sat in the co-pilot seat, 'Nicky's seat' thought Samus, 'he's in Nicky's seat'

She turned to him and what she saw disturbed her to no end.

Butch face now bore scars from the event in the form of claw-like shrapnel wounds across the side of his face and on his arms from the initial explosion and the resulting melee. There was a strip of black cloth tied around his eye socket, and. Also, he wore a pair of worn jeans and a white T-shirt with the left sleeve pinned up that read

G

F

C

K

Y

R

S

L

F

Would you like to buy a vowel?

Samus, of course, shouldn't have understand the writing, but spending time with Nicky had given her a slight understanding of English and she laughed at it, more than she had in a long time.

"So," Butch asked, making conversation, "where exactly are we headed?"

"It's old space station atmosphere compartment near the Corinthian system."

Images of oxygen recycling tanks and mixers filled Butch's head.

Seeing the look Butch gave her she elaborated,

"It is basically a park, sealed in a large glass dome with artificial gravity. It produces the oxygen and recycles the carbon dioxide of the station."

"Where and how did you get this exactly?"

"Well that module is where I meet Nicole."

"Oooohhhhh, care to elaborate?"

"Well, Nicole was originally trapped in the 21st century by an anomaly, the same kind the cruiser generates and that brought you here. From what we can tell it acts with the properties of an elastic band. It shot her back in time then over compensated and shot her too far forward to this time. The break through with the cruiser is that it can control the jumps through space-time, allowing the transportation of matter to almost any time a place in the universe. Anyway, I digress, so Nicole was shot here by the anomaly and she brought some _unwanted friends,_ she called them the covenant. They attacked her station and she fled in a fighter and docked at the station I was at. The Covenant and Pirates have a funny sense of timing, 'cause they both attacked at the same time. Nicole and I both retreated to the module and sealed it, but not before some of them got in. Nicole and I worked together and beat them, but they destroyed the station. We ejected the module from the station and went to orbit around Corinthia. We kept it, it was sort of a Forward Operating Base/Zen Garden deal, and no one knows about it but the two of us."

"Three of us now." Said Butch

"Right." Said Samus

---

Nicole woke up to voices outside her cell,

"We have to wait Captain. If we operate now we could get corrupted DNA samples." Said a voice she recognized as the head pirate from the medical room

"How long do we need to wait?" asked a second pirate voice

"One maybe two days." Replied the first pirate

"You'd better hope it's sooner, Lord Ridley grows impatient." Said the second pirate, she then heard footsteps walking away.

"You'd better be worth it, stupid human." Said the first, then he walked away as well, leaving Nicole alone with her thoughts.

---

Samus looked on in amazement as Butch went about his work.

As soon as they'd docked at the station Butch had grabbed two boxes of gathered tools and his prosthetic and went to work. He went to a metal bench and began to take apart the arm. He'd discovered, to his delight, that the main motor functions were intact. Then he investigated the precision motors had shorted out. He then found that even with the motor repairs he wasn't done. The arm wouldn't attach to the socket. He diagnosed the problem and made the repairs within four hours. It turned out that the pirates had stripped the locking mechanisms in the arm. So he was forced to repair the mechanisms by hand, which was a serious pain. He then locked on the prosthetic and went through a series of exercises taught to him by the military to test the dexterity of his arm, the motors were working perfectly. He was doing the exercises when he tripped over some thing. He picked it up and looked at it; it looked like a handle of something. He accidently thumbed the activator switch and yelped when the plasma sword sprang to life. He fell over and found a second sword. He looked at them and an idea came to mind.

---

Samus had been sleeping peacefully while Butch made the necessary repairs to his prosthetic limb. When she awoke she realized that it'd been 6 hours since they'd landed and they'd accomplished little. She turned to Butch and did a double take.

Butch had a purplish blue blade extending from the armor on each arm.

"What the fuck?!?!"

"Oh, you're up," he said, "I thought I might need a melee weapon and I found this and another one like it in the grass. So I separated the two generators and attached one to my armor, the other wouldn't attach to my armor for my left arm so I grafted directly to my prosthetic. "

"Then where's the other thing?"

"Oh, check this out!"

He held up his assault rifle, upside-down and backwards, so that the stock was facing Samus. There were three thin spike-like blades on the stock pointing forward, one of them was pointing up and there was one of those plasma blades attached to the bottom. The he flipped the gun around to point the barrel forward the plasma blade deactivated and the three spikes folded into the stock and a second plasma sword activated acting as a bayonet.

"Cool, huh?"

"Nice, but let's focus, we need a plan."

They then sat down and planed their assault.

End of Part 3

These is my new chapter, hopefully it's better than the last one, but that's up to YOU!!! R&R, kthnxbye!


	4. Part 4: Revenge

**Revenge**

"_If you hunt a monster, be sure you don't become one in the process." Proverb. If you don't understand you will by the end of this chapter._

'Alright,' Though Butch 'now that we have a plan we can get going'

They'd spent 3 hours making and memorizing the plan of attack. It'd been decided that since Butch now had new melee weapons, he'd be best for the confined spaces of the cruiser's brig. Mean while Samus would go and neutralize resistance on the bridge. They'd all meet on the bridge and send the cruiser back to federation space.

They were preparing to leave. Butch was gathering supplies from a cache that Samus and Nicole had put there, when heard Samus start swearing up a storm in the ship. He went to check it out.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!!?!?!?!?" she screamed kicking the box she had tripped over which had fallen from a medium sized pile up against the wall of the ship

"Do not kick that!" Butch yelled

"Why the hell not?!? Better yet, what's it doing on my ship?!?" she continued to yell.

"One, because you're kicking roughly 50 Kg of high explosives. Two, there here because I can't have all my weapons on me at all times. Ok? Jeez, it's obviously someone time of the month." He then wisely dodged away as she kicked at him. She hit a 6 in. thick bulk head and dented it.

"WHOA!! Holy SHIT!"

"Do yourself a favor, KEEP YOUR DAMN MOUTH SHUT!"

"OK, seriously, you're, like, having a spontaneous spaz attack, what the hell?"

"Let's just get going." She said exasperatedly

"Ok, Ok." Said Butch, eyeing her confusedly

---

The cruiser was trying to make it to a pirate strong hold and the science team so they could replicate the worm hole generator.

They weren't going to let that happen.

Once they had the ion trail coordinates locked into the nav computer they were off.

**Butch had decided to go and prepare his weapons. He went to the back of the ship and began opening the boxes. The weapons contained inside these boxes would make a heavy infantry squad weep with envy. The first box contained ordinance, one Type 47 Mk. V six chamber 40mm grenade launcher. The next box held 60 rounds for said grenade launcher, of which he took 30 and loaded 6 into the launcher, the rest were loaded into his pack. The pack for Butch's armor was a weapons holder and it was also contained interchangeable compartments for ammo storage that could be personalized to fit the mission. The pack had 3 slots and 2 magnetic clamps for weapons and dispensers for the ammo to those weapons. He put the Mk. V in the center slot. The next box contained one of Butch's favorite guns, the Mk.3 V-642 Mobile Vulcan Machine Gun. This 6-barreled .40 death dealer carried a sense of invincibility with its 70 rps. firing rate. He put that on the far right magnetic attachment. The box after contained about 50,000 Teflon coated armor-piercing .40 rounds for the MVMG which Butch in turn loaded into the pack. Then took down a very long box and open it to reveal his .50 sniper rifle he'd used on LV-426. He then loaded it and put it into the left slot. He then lifted out a considerably smaller case and opened it. It contained two .45 magnum handguns and a .50 Dessert Eagle. He took the two magnums and put them in two holsters strapped to his thighs, he put the Eagle in a special slot on his pack, away from the main ones, after all, Nicole would need a weapon when he got to her. Finally he retrieved his assault rifle and it's ammo and stowed it in the right weapon slot. Then he noticed two extra boxes there. Both were marked **UNSC Marine Corps. "**What the hell?"** **He opened them to reveal Nicole's BR55. The other contained ammo for it. ** '**Hm, should I take this with me? I do have an extra clamp. Yeah, this way Nicole can stand a fighting chance against the pirates'**

So he put the extra clips on an ammo belt and stowed it in his pack and attached the rifle to the last clamp. He then made his way up to the front of the ship.

As he sat down Samus couldn't help but notice he was thumbing a scar along the back of his right hand and seemed to be gazing into space, no pun intended.

"Where'd you get that?" she asked him, gesturing to the scar.

He was startled out of his daydream and replied

"I got this the day you guys came. My little brother thought it would be funny to steal m... something very precious to me. I caught up to him and in my anger I… I started choking him, he was scratching at my hands to get me off him and managed to cut me with his nails. He would have died if my dad hadn't pulled me off him. Right afterwards I left the house to tend some _unfinished business_" he spat the last part out venomously, "Then I came back just in time to see my house and every one inside destroyed before my eyes. The last time I saw my brother alive… I tried to kill him. This scar reminds me of the payback I owe these damn Pirates."

She just sat there through all of it.

'It makes sense now,' she thought, 'that's why he was going berserk and the LZ, he just watched his parents die." Her heart ached as she thought of how her parents were similarly taken by the Pirates, and she really felt for him.

"Well," she said, "you'll get your chance soon enough."

**---** **1 hour later, they found it. They'd found the cruiser via its energy signature since it was for all intents and purposes, fresh of the line it's engines gave off a distinct ion trail and so was quite easy to track.**

They then came up inside the cruiser's ion exhaust stream, where the cruiser's scanners wouldn't be able to detect their movements. They then moved in and stayed back 500 yards while they prepared for battle. Samus suited up in her fully upgraded Varia Suit and then got back to the controls. Butch began attaching his armor, starting with the chest plate and grieves, he then attached the shin guards and boots. Then he strapped on the holsters containing his .45s and attached his pack. He then slipped on the gauntleted gloves and locked on the helmet he then walked to the front of the ship and signaled he was ready.

Samus accelerated and brought them next to the hangar and flew them in.

---

The pirates working the hangar at the time were simply off loading supplies sent from the rest of the fleet when suddenly a ship entered the hangar. The pirates could recognize the orange and yellow paint job anywhere.

The Hunter was here.

The Pirates immediately dropped what they were doing and loaded their energy scythes. Then the ramp to the ship dropped and a silver armored humanoid wielding an intimidating 6 barreled weapons stepped out. The Pirates barely had time to process this before the humanoid opened fire. An entire squad was cut down in a split second. The rest of the hangar soon followed, only one pirate survived. He looked up and saw that the humanoid had stowed his weapons and was gesturing to someone inside the ship. Then The Hunter stepped out and the Pirate froze, the hunter's skills were infamous within the pirate's ranks, but this other humanoid had destroyed the hangar crew in seconds. The Pirate didn't know which to which to fear more. The humanoids then turned their backs and the pirate ran for it, only to feel a fatal pain in-between his shoulders and fall to the ground dead a few seconds later.

---

"Come on Samus" said Butch, having just slaughtered the hangar crew.

Samus looked around and gave a low whistle

"I got to me one of those." She said looking at the smoking Vulcan on his back

"Maybe if you're a good girl I'll give you one." He said

"Shut up Butch and let's get going, by the way, you missed one." she said

Without missing a beat Butch whipped out one .45 and shot the pirate between the shoulders

"Did I?" he said monotonously

"Just get going!" she said

"Yes Ma'am" he said, saluting before running off.

She just shook her head and started toward the bridge.

---

'Two hall ways down, take a left, go strait till you hit the elevator and go to sub-level 4…'

Butch was remembering the directions to the brig of the ship. He headed down there, noting that there were no pirates anywhere. 'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth I guess.' He thought. Then he saw the halls to the cell block

'Damn lousy, cheap-ass gift horse' he thought, and then he pulled out his assault rifle, flipped it so that the new blades faced the pirates, activated the swords on the rifle and on his left arm, and went to work.

---

The Pirates had dragged Nicole into the medical room again but there was different equipment there this time. They stripped her of her skin tight suit, strapped her to the table, and started to prep the equipment. They then started a machine that sported a large blade. The blade was getting closer to her skin she thought to herself,

'Well Nicole this is it, it's been a pleasure'

The blade was an inch from her skin when, suddenly, there was a large commotion heard outside the door the two guards raised their weapons to the door when it was bashed down and a pirate flew through, followed swiftly by a silver blur sporting two Elite plasma blades. It cut one of the guards in half before charging the other, it ducked a swipe by the pirate and drove its left sword into the pirate, disemboweling it. It then flipped its right blade around revealing an assault rifle barrel and quickly dispatched the doctors around the table with well aimed fire. Only one was still alive. It grabbed the doctor and growled at it

"Where's her armor?"

"The armory, down the hall that way, please, don't kill me!" The doctor responded, begging

It threw the doctor to the ground and simply said,

"Sorry." Before it decapitated the doctor

It then came over and cut her loose from the table and then turned around. Nicole then remembered that she was naked and grabbed her suit and put it on quickly blushing madly. She took time to notice that her savior was a humanoid clad in silver armor and carrying a park on his back. She then cleared her throat and said,

"I'm ready."

Speaking through poor quality speakers he responded,

"Here, you'll need this." It said tossing her a .50 Dessert Eagle

"Thanks."

"Let's go get your armor." He said, leading her out and towards the armory.

Once there he was trying to hack into the computer to get them in when two pirates came running down the hallway. Nicole leveled the pistol and fired twice, killing the Pirates. Then the door opened and the two entered. The silver clad warrior the shut it behind them and removed his helmet. She got a good look at him, because he was in fact male, his face was scared with shrapnel wounds and, she realized to her horror, that he had only one eye. Then he spoke,

"Thanks for covering my back out there Nicole." He said in a strikingly familiar voice.

"Butch?!?" she exclaimed

"Hi Nicole." He said

She walked up to him, like she was in a dream, and ran her fingers along a one of the many scars crisscrossing his face,

"What… what happened?" she asked

"There'll be time to explain later, but we have to meet Samus on the bridge, so grab your armor and let's go." Ha said, slipping on his helmet

"Oh, right" she said blushing slightly at the awkwardness of the situation. She quickly got on her armor and Butch handed her the battle rifle and ammo,

"Where'd you find this?" she asked

"Samus' ship." He replied simply, "Hurry."

Suddenly her armor came alive,

"Activating scan mode," said a disembodied female voice, "scanning subject." It said, locked on to Butch, "scan complete, please wait accessing inner-armor files and databases, ETC 20 min." shaking of the malfunction she followed Butch out.

They began to make their way up to the bridge. Nicole decided to try something,

"Bet'cha I can get more kills by the time we get to the bridge." She said and she was surprised when Butch replied,

"You're on!"

That seemed to loosen him up. So from then on they counted their kills till they were at the bridge door.

---

Samus made her way from the hangar to the corridors outside the bridge, that's when the shit hit the fan. There were several guards on patrol whom immediately sounded the alarm when they saw her.

'Damn them' she thought as she fired a super missile into the group, killing them. But the damage was done, and Pirates started flooding the hallway. Samus switched to plasma beam and cut loose with a salvo of charged shots that cut down several ranks of pirates. She then switched to missiles and let loose three before switching back to plasma beam and firing more charged shots. She wanted to keep them guessing on what weapon she was using so that they couldn't defend adequately against her. To really mess with them, she spontaneously launched into a screw attack that cut right though their ranks. She then finished off the remainder with a pair of super missiles. She then entered the bridge and subdued the resistance there easily enough then she heard commotion outside she walked out the door gun raised but lowered when she saw who it was. Nicole and Butch were casually walking up to the door. Nicole had her weapon at standard position of rest, pointed down at a slight angle, while Butch's assault rifle was up over his right shoulder. Nicole radiated a short of cool-under-fire calm, while Butch had air of, not quite cockiness, but confidence it himself and his team. When the two women saw one another they came together in a friendly embrace.

"It's good to finally see a friendly face." Said Nicole breaking the embrace seeing the confused face Samus gave her she continued "his ugly mug looks like it will bite me." She said gesturingto Butch

"Hey! I got those saving your ass for what was it? Oh yeah, the **THIRD** time!"

"Calm down Butch."

"That hurt my feelings." he said fake pouting.

"That mug of yours hurt my eyes!" said Nicole smirking

"Damn, set myself up for that didn't I?"

"Guys, Focus! We've got work to do." Said Samus, ending the jokes

"What do you need us to do?" asked Nicole

"I need You," she said, indicating Nicole, "to help with the controls and You," indicating Butch, "to keep watch. Come on Nicole." She said

She and Nicole went to work getting the autopilot ready, when suddenly multiple objects started appearing around the ship.

"Shit!" said Nicole

"What is it?" asked Butch

"We got company coming in through Hangar 4."

"Where's that?" he asked

"Down that hall." She said pointing down the hall to his left

"I'll take care of it." he said sprinting down the hall

Nicole was about to follow when her scan mode activated,

"Search complete," chimed the disembodied voice, "Subject; Cpt. Relsirc, Johnson C., Commander of The 1st Phalanx Regiment." It said then there was a file photo of Butch and the two parallel silver bars representing his captain rank and a banner that read 'Aliit ori'shya tl'in bal verd ori'shya beskar'gam, "Age:16, Numerical Designation: Butch-521. Subject commissioned under The Hoplite Initiative of U.S. Military Project 21564, Codename: Project Athens, and the Ares Initiative of U.S. Military Project 21565, Codename: Project Olympus. Background information: Classified, Biological Enhancements/Improvements: Classified. Mechanical Enhancements/Improvements: Classified. Armor Type: Modified Trojan Full Body Armor Mk. VIII. Modifications: Classified/Unknown. Weapons: Modified Talon assault rifle Mk. IV, Type 47 Mk. V six chamber 40mm grenade launcher, V-642 Mk.3 Mobile Vulcan Machine Gun, .50 sniper rifle; type unknown, Unknown, Unknown. Will there be anything else?"

"No there won't." said Nicole, 'Damn' she thought, 'that bastard outranks me.'

Samus snapped her out of her daze,

"The autopilot is ready, let's go help Butch."

They both sprinted towards the hangar.

Along the way the saw scores of pirates, well, what was left of them anyways. They seemed to have been killed it a fashion that even Samus considered brutal, they'd simply been cut to pieces.

They then reached the hangar and found a war zone.

Butch was on a catwalk above the hangar raining death down with his MVMG and grenade launcher. The Pirates were dying in droves un able to escape the fire of the MVMG. Just when it looked like they'd won, the MVMG fell silent.

It was out off ammo.

Butch detached the feeder from his pack and laid the MVMG down. He put the launcher in its slot and attacked using his assault rifle. He took down 10 Pirates with bursts from the gun before it went empty. Unable to reload, he simply flipped it around and activated the plasma blade and began hacking away at the pirates. He show no compassion, no regret, he moved like a man possessed. Samus And Nicole came in from the side and broke the pirate flanks.

They left no Pirate alive.

But that's when he came.

---

'That has got to be the ugliest looking thing I've ever seen in my life.' Thought Butch as the Pirate general came into view.

He was a roughly 20 ft. tall with a 40 ft. wing span.

'He looks like fuckin' a mutant pterodactyl' thought Butch

Suddenly an object came flying from the general.

"EMP charge detected." Chimed his computer

"Commence emergency shut down!" he yelled

Instantly his HUD blackened, the armor felt heavier and his left arm went limp. The EMP went off and sent a strange tingling sensation.

"Commence startup." He said

The armor began to respond again and the HUD reactivated

**TROJAN ARMOR Mk. VIII Startup begun…**

**Checking Life-support… Status: Green**

**Checking Targeting… Status: Green**

**Checking for external damage … Status: Green**

**Armor Status: Green**

**Startup complete**

His targeting ridicule reappeared and everything was back on line. He looked over to Samus and Nicole, they were both frozen stiff. Their suits had locked up in the blast. The General noticed that Butch was moving and reacted quickly by taking a swipe at Butch with his tale. Without ever thinking he grabbed the tail and held on. He was now behind the General, he activated his plasma blade and ran up the tail and up the general's back, dragging the blade along the general's spine the whole time. When he reached the base of Ridley's neck he made two swipes at the neck then jumped to the top of his head and was about to strike the final blow when The General's tail sent him flying

---

Samus panicked.

Her armor had spontaneously shut down. Then she realized it,

"An EMP, that son of a bitch"

She then saw Butch get thrown off of Ridley and she saw that Ridley was headed for Nicole and Butch wasn't moving. She had to move fast.

Struggling against the recalcitrant joints, she raised her left arm to the auxiliary controls on the side of her cannon, pressed the first and third buttons and clenched her right hand. The beep and whir that echoed in her helmet just might have been the sweetest sound she'd ever heard, as the familiar boot messages began scrolling down her HUD.

**Chozo Battle Suit  
Ver. SA1-4468-VM6-P  
System check initiated...  
ALERT: One or more system files damaged or corrupted. Restoring last known stable configuration...**  
**ALERT: The following system files have been removed.**

**.**

**.**

**System Diagnostics: OK**

She got up and attacked

---

Butch looked up to see Ridley headed for Nicole. He tried to stand but immediately felt pain lance through his chest and torso.

'Damn, he broke my ribs _**again**_' he thought, 'I'm gonna rip his goddamn spine out of his goddamn body'

He tried three times before he managed to get the Mk. V out of its slot. He looked over and saw Ridley laughing at the girls; Samus had gotten up but was beat down quickly in her weakened state. Her plasma beams were just bouncing off his armor. Just seeing that face and that look of triumph drove butch over the edge,

"Let's see how armored your jaw is!" he said, and emptied all six chamber right into the General's Maw.

---

Samus thought it was over.

Ridley was standing over them and she was to weakened from the blast to resist. She just needed to get to that damn center plate. Then as if answering her prayer, Ridley's mouth exploded. He immediately shot strait up, screaming as another granade hit him, she switched to Wavebuster and fired into the plate, empting an energy tank into the bastard, who fell sizzling to the floor with a crunching noise. Samus then made her way back to Nicole and unlocked her armor.

"Did we get'em?" was the first thing Nicole asked.

"Ya, We got the bastard." Said Samus

"Where's Butch?" asked Nicole

"Shit, Butch!" Samus said running over to him, only to find him slowly reloading the Mk. V

"You ok?" she asked

"Yeah, I'll live." He said, "Bastard broke those ribs again, though."

"Owch, that's gotta hurt"

"You've got no idea."

"Let's get back to the bridge and radio for back-up"

---

Once they got back to the bridge they called for reinforcements. Then they just took a big step back and sort of reflected.

Butch was stranded 800 years in the future, was now parentless, and seen his first real combat.

Samus hadn't really under gone any change, but she was finally free of Ridley, seeing as they'd tossed his body into space and had let Adam use it for target practice.

Nicole had actually felt scared for the first time in that damn medical room, and the person who'd saved her was some goofy kid.

Butch broke the silence by reciting a chant they'd made as a sort of theme of the regiment,

"Kandosii sa ka'rta, Vode an.  
Coruscanta a'den mhi, Vode an.  
Bal kote, darasuum kote,  
Jorso'ran kando a tome.  
Sa kyr'am nau tracyn kad, Vode an.

Motir ca'tra nau tracinya.  
Gra'tua cuun hett su dralshy'a.  
Aruetyc runi cet slarycina solus cet o'r.

Sa kyr'am nau tracyn kad, Vode an!"

END

Aaannnddd… CUT! Take five people that's a rap.

MAN this took a lot out of me. But if you've enjoyed reading this half as much as I've enjoyed writing it, then I've enjoyed it twice as much as you so HA! I got more out of this. I've decided there will be a sequel so don't worry, all your questions will be answered in due time. To hear the chant Butch was doing, go here: .com/watch?v=ao1HQAPRSwo

And that's it so see you next time!


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